Bits: Tesco to Virgin bonus, 3000 Virgin miles from Avis, 5000 Miles & More miles with a hotel

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• Frenske says:

  12 Jun12 June 09:43

  Regarding Tesco bonus points. It seems Tesco has changed the offer for HP inkt: 100 bonus points instead of 1000 bonus points.

  Since they charge 50% more than on-line shops I’ll give it a miss for this price.

• Anna says:

  12 Jun12 June 10:10

  OT – does anyone know if the Lloyds upgrade voucher is subject to the same delay as the avios posting? I’m about to trigger it and want to use it in a couple of months but still have about another 22 weeks before my points will post according to Lloyds customer services (I don’t need the points, just the voucher.) How long does it usually take to appear on the account after being triggered?

  • Liz says:

    12 Jun12 June 11:41

    Anna – I have the same issue as you – my voucher didn’t post automatically – my designated Complaints Manager said to wait for 4 weeks after I triggered the £7k spend – if it didn’t post automatically then to call him – it didn’t and he added it manually and it was in my account within 2 days. I need to use mine for the return leg from HKG-LHR for next June so glad theywere able to add it manually.

    • Liz says:

      12 Jun12 June 11:48

      You need to get your issue of missing points escalated to an official complaint and get a Complaints manager working on your issue. Customer services just fob you off for months on end – only when you have a designated Complaints manager will you receive your points and voucher. Do not wait for 26 weeks to get your points. I phone up each month and get them added manually – my Complaints manager has also given me the 26 week spiel but I’ve been told I will get all the points I’ve earned again when the issue is resolved – whenever that may be- I won’t hold my breath but I’ve already received 5600 Avios more than I should have!

      • Anna says:

        12 Jun12 June 14:14

        Hi Liz, thanks for this. As soon as I trigger the spend I will call them and make sure they add it as soon as possible. I did escalate the avios thing and got £200 compensation which I was quite happy with as I don’t actually need the points immediately, I have enough to cover what I need the upgrade voucher for (hopefully CW to east coast US next summer), so as long as they post at some point I’m ok.

        I still don’t see how this can take 26 weeks to resolve, or how they can be so specific about the time frame!

        • Liz says:

          12 Jun12 June 14:18

          Back in Jan I was told 12 weeks so they really don’t know – that is just the timescale they have been told to tell customers at the moment – I don’t anticipate it being fixed any time soon. But they can definitely manually activate the voucher so hopefully you will be ok.

  • Alex W says:

    12 Jun12 June 13:14

    Yes the vouchers are subject to the 6 month delay same as the Avios. If you ring up Lloyds they might be able to get it added manually along with the Avios.

    • Anna says:

      12 Jun12 June 14:17

      Thanks Liz and Alex, I will call them as soon as I trigger the spend as I want to use the voucher at the beginning of September.

      I did escalate the avios complaint and got £200 compensation which I thought was quite reasonable. I don’t need the points to use the upgrade voucher so as long as they post at some point I’m happy.

      • Optimus Prime says:

        12 Jun12 June 22:05

        Is it worth applying for the Lloyds card? I know it gives avios off your foreign spending but if it’s so painful to get your points posted…

        • Rob says:

          13 Jun13 June 07:01

          You either get them ok ( most do) or you never get them (a minority but not insignificant).

    • Alex W says:

      12 Jun12 June 20:16

      In other news. Mrs W referred me for the Lloyds Avios card but we didn’t get the bonus because I previously held the Lloyds Premier Avios card. I challenged it because the T&Cs did not state anything about the Premier and it has also been discontinued. The other day 2 x 4500 Avios arrived in our accounts as a goodwill gesture 🙂

  • The Original Nick says:

    12 Jun12 June 20:49

    My Lloyds Voucher appeared on AW.

• Darren says:

  12 Jun12 June 10:14

  OT,
  Just wanted a sense check on the price of ex UK flights to Singapore for next Feb, Finnair are currently £1450ish which I think is a good price. I know ex EU is a bit cheaper but not by much/enough to warrant the hassle.

  Any history of ex UK being much less?

  • Sam Goss says:

    12 Jun12 June 10:29

    Very good price – you won’t see anything lower than that – especially in Oneworld. I think that’s even cheaper that Norwegian “Premium” !

    The other cheapo options tend to be Garuda (which has the upside of being direct coming back) , Vietnam Airlines or Malaysian airlines – but none will be cheaper than ~1500

• Scottydogg says:

  12 Jun12 June 13:18

  OT , ive my spend £10,000 target on the IHG Rewards card for the free night stay that credits on the annverisary which is July 22nd . I spoke to 2 people on the phone from IHG to try and get some info on not using the card in the second year but getting the reward night to credit my account . They were adament that I would be charged £99 if I don’t cancel before the 22nd of July , the only option to avoid getting charged again was to cancel and therefore surrender ever getting that voucher . He was making out that the free night voucher is a perk of taking out the card for the second year . Can anyone confirm about this , he was saying what I was trying to do was to find a loop hole that doesn’t exist . I said that if I didn’t use the card after the 22nd then they can’t charge me , he said that they would and that I wouldn’t be able to get it back in anyway

  Starting to feel like I wasted a lot of spending on this card trying to get a perk that seems to be out of reach

  • Genghis says:

    12 Jun12 June 14:04

    The FOS wouldn’t look kindly on Creation for offering such a benefit which is dependent on future instead of past performance.

    “A free night voucher which you can choose to use at one of over 5,000 IHG® hotels worldwide if you spend at least £10,000 every year by your anniversary”

• czechoslovakia says:

  12 Jun12 June 13:42

  Cheers Rob, 5150 M miles earnt on a 109 Euro booking i needed to make anyhow, in a hotel i like.
  You`re a star, sir.
  For reference, Kayak engine gave prices of £95 and up for same room elsewhere….

  • Rob says:

    12 Jun12 June 14:09

    Annoyingly I need 1 night in Innsbruck and the place we want is NOT there!

• rickey says:

  12 Jun12 June 14:19

  Like me many other readers I upgraded my Amex Gold Card to Platinum charge card few months ago (20K online offer).
  So far Amex has not charged any fees on Platinum card account and I have made some good use of Lounge Passes for my spring travel.
  When am I likely to see, FEES hit my account?
  Would that be any random date now or at the anniversary of my Gold Card, which is couple of months away?
  I know someone posted some time ago that he/she has not been charged fees for couple of years on the same card.

  • Lev441 says:

    12 Jun12 June 14:47

    I had it posted at the end of my first or second month once I had upgraded.

• DM says:

  12 Jun12 June 16:49

  Sorry, another last minute OT BA AMEX £100 off question. I wanted to book redemption to the US using the offer to compensate on the fees. However I need to do an open jaw flight. The terms say ba.com only, so can’t book via the phone. They also say “UK Departures only”, so can’t book as 2x one-ways. Is there any way to do this type of trip online? thanks!

  • DM says:

    12 Jun12 June 16:52

    Replying to myself here …. I thought previous post people have mentioned using hotel/car spend to make the £500 – is that true which would negate the “UK Departure” bit?

• Cuchlainn says:

  12 Jun12 June 20:34

  OT ( sorry ! ),
  I have just triggered my 2nd BAPP 2-4-1 voucher and my wife is 3 1/2 months between BAPP churns and 1 x 2-4-1 voucher. I have never taken a Rewards / Points Amex, as I generally collect air miles / Avios only. Living across Irish Sea so Aer Lingus offers me good redemption opportunities for miles redemptions ( plus decent taxes ex Dublin ) but knobbled due to poor domestic connections ( BA BHD to LHR )
  Queries : 1. Reading horror stories for Lloyds Amex / MC re miles not posting but FOREX and 6months double miles benefits interest me…
  2. Preferred Rewards Gold looks best bet but can this be churned like BAPP ?
  Any other ideas gratefully received.. Thanks

  • Genghis says:

    12 Jun12 June 21:41

    1. I’ve had no problems. 2. Yes that’s fine.
    SPG?

    • Cuchlainn says:

      12 Jun12 June 23:18

      Thanks Genghis but SPG’s hotel chains do not fill me with joy…
      Last questions :
      1. If I downgrade to BA Blue Amex will I get my pro-rata annual fee refund ?
      2. Using my current BAPP Amex account can I refer my wife for the Preferred Rewards Gold ?
      ( I see this as a 3 month stop gap until her 6 months churn with BAPP has expired ).

      • Alex W says:

        13 Jun13 June 00:14

        1. Yes.
        2. No.

        SPG points are valuable outside SPG – transfer to airlines at 1:1.25 and to Marriott at 1:3.

        I’ve just got an SPG Amex and have no intention of staying in SPG 🙂

        • rickey says:

          13 Jun13 June 07:20

          +1

          Managed to accumulate 90K SPG for Marriott Travel Package without setting a foot in any SPG hotel.
          Hope the merger takes as long as expected (now late/end of 2018), giving me opportunity for 3 more churning cycles.

      • Genghis says:

        13 Jun13 June 03:51

        You can only refer within Amex card “families” so MR card->MR card (e.g. Amex Gold / Plat) or avios card->avios card (BAPP / BA Blue) etc

        As @Alex W notes, SPG points are very valuable currently due to 1:3 Marriott conversion. Ive booked some bargains recently. I’ve never used SPG points in a SPG hotel though still want to try the Aloft in Liverpool. SPG points can be converted to avios at 1:1 or at 20k there is a 5k bonus. But can also be converted to FF schemes where points are harder to come by in the UK. A few of us here seem to currently be saving for a Marriott travel package which offer great value (7 night in hotel + a shed loads of air miles).

        Hope this helps.

        • Cuchlainn says:

          13 Jun13 June 11:46

          Cheers Alex W, rickety and Genghis.

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